AN

Well, I'm fairly certain that this is my worst bit of writing thus far, but I just couldn't get this chapter to work for some reason. It's long though, so hopefully that will make up for how much it lacks in actual worth.

Special thanks to JC-S, and especially to all my returning reviewers who have been sticking with me

You know, you guys should all thank my brother too, since I get the chapters out faster because he's always bugging me to get writing.

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Chapter 7

Uncontrolled Emotions

Harry awoke sometime later, feeling numb mentally and emotionally, but with a pounding head from where he'd hit the hard stone floor. Sirius tried to talk to him, but he just threw up his mental blocks to keep his godfather out. Without speaking, he tossed a few bags of Galleons into his new trunk and carried it out onto the small platform outside the massive vault doors.

Griphook was waiting in the cart, and soon they were on their way back to the surface. Before going outside the bank, Harry put his hood back up, and walked slowly to the little side street he'd arrived at. He walked as if in a trance, and later remembered little of his short trip to get back to the park in Little Whinging.

As he sat back against his favorite tree, the reality of it all seemed to hit him with brutal force.

He had a sister.

He'd had a sister for most of his life.

And he hadn't even known it.

It was almost too much to bear. After all the emotional events of that day, this was really it. He'd reached the end of the emotional roller coaster, and he felt sick. His thoughts wandered to the sister he'd never met.

What did she look like? Where had she been? What did she like to do? He had missed almost 15 years of her life. He had never been able to tickle her mercilessly, or chase her out of his room, or have a blazing sibling row with her, or give her boyfriends grief. They hadn't been able to play games as children, and she'd never come running in to sleep next to him after a terrible nightmare.

A week before, Harry would've been berating himself for being the cause of the whole thing, but not anymore. Long lectures from Sirius had finally broken through to him. He knew now that he could only control what he could control, and he shouldn't blame himself for everything. The only thing he could do was the best he possibly could, and hope for everything to turn out alright.

Harry knew who's fault it really was. First, Voldemort nearly 15 years before, when she was born, and now, Dumbledore. An angry sounding growl came from the back of his throat, and he got to his feet and clenched his fists.

He was angry.

Really angry.

Unrestrained fury was pounding through his body, making his magic spike powerfully. The trees all around him seemed to sway in an unseen breeze, and the air crackled with invisible energy. If anyone had looked into his eyes, they would have seen, quite literally, twin pillars of fire blazing there.

The small, still-rational part of his brain told him that he was going to let out some serious energy soon, and he'd better get somewhere out of the way to do it. For once, he listened.

Using Flame Travel, he managed to make it to an out of the way cabin near a lake in Alaska, he stood in front of the lake and let the power and anger flow through him like he was some sort of human conductor for them.

Never before in his life had he been this angry, not even when Bellatrix killed Sirius. He felt as though his body was heating up like a furnace. When his rage reached it's peak, a shock wave blasted outward from his body, and every rock, tree, and piece of debris within a 100-yard radius was torn from the ground into the air around him.

They whipped around him in a gigantic whirlwind of wood, stone, and dust, while he stood in the center, letting the magic flow through him and into the massive tornado he'd created.

When his anger was spent, the shattered debris fell abruptly from the sky, littering all the ground but where he stood.

Then the world around him went black, and he knew no more.

Harry opened his eyes slowly. He was staring straight up at a bright blue sky with a few small wisps of clouds drifting lazily along. He tried to sit up, and immediately lay himself back down with a groan. He felt totally exhausted, and his entire body was horribly sore. The fact that he'd hit his head for the second time that day did not help, either.

A low chuckle was heard inside his head. You know, you really should learn to control your emotions more. That's the second time today you've managed to pass out.

-Shut up, Siri. It's not my fault Dumbledore is the biggest imbecile in the world.- He paused for a moment. -Did you know about Katherine?-

I was afraid you'd ask that. I knew Lily was pregnant, I didn't know Katherine was actually born before they died. I take it you didn't know?

-Does it sound like I did?-

No, I guess not. Sirius let out a disgusted snort. The idiocy of that old fool apparently knows no bounds. I thought you just never wanted to talk about it, or I would have brought it up. I never thought no one had told you. Come to think of it though, the pregnancy wasn't well known. I think only Dumbledore and I knew.

Harry let out an angry growl, but Sirius stopped him from having another outburst. Easy there, Harry. I have a plan to take care of his treating you like a little child, but you have to learn to control yourself. You levitated everything for a good hundred meters around you into the air for fully five minutes, and it used up a good bit of your magic. Your body had to partially shut down to regenerate, which is why you passed out again.

Harry finally seemed to find the strength to ease himself gingerly into a sitting position, and looked around in amazement. He was in a fairly rocky area, with a few trees nearby, but everything in a huge circle around him looked like it had been hit by a tornado, a hurricane, and a muggle bomb all at once. There were deep gouges in the ground and bits of rocks and trees lay everywhere in strange positions.

-I did that?-

A dry chuckle Yep.

-And I passed out because I used too much magic?-

Yep.

-How long was I out?-

Two or three hours I think. You better get back to Privet Drive soon though, or the Order will notice you're gone.

-Do I have enough magic left to make it?-

You should, or you wouldn't be awake yet. That was the longest you've gone using Flame Travel isn't it?

-Yeah, but it's not like it matters anyway. I could Travel to the moon and it wouldn't be any more strenuous then Travelling across a room.-

Ah yes. Well if you're finished demolishing the area around my Safe House, we should go.

-Er...yeah. Sorry about that by the way.-

By the time Harry managed to sneak back into his room at number 4, it was past dinner. For the Dursleys anyway. He knew he couldn't get any dinner until the rest of the house's occupants were asleep.

Having a marauder in his head had definite advantages, Harry reflected as he settled into his desk chair to do some homework. He'd had to utilize all of Sirius' stealth and lock-picking skills to get in and out of the house and past his Order guard unseen each day.

Sirius of course claimed that Padfoot was the sneakiest Marauder, something Harry pretended to doubt, much to Sirius' annoyance. In all actuallity, Harry thought Sirius was being modest just saying he was the sneakiest Marauder. After all, his skills had gotten Harry past Moody just two days earlier!

Then again, Sirius had managed to pull off dozens of pranks at Hogwarts, sneak out with a werewolf once a month as a teenager, and evade the entire Ministry of Magic for three years as an adult. It really wasn't that surprising that he was so good at avoiding being found or detected.

Privately, Harry thought Sirius had had more than just Marauder training to give him the skills he had, but Sirius dodged the question every time Harry brought it up, so there was little he could do about it.

He glanced down at the desk in front of him, and spotted the latest letter from Ginny. They'd been writing fairly consistantly during the last week, and Harry felt as though he was really getting to know her for the first time.

Ginny had a rather complex personality once you managed to open her up just a little. She was quick-witted and funny, with a rather nasty temper if you upset her. She loved her family dearly, but was nearly always at odds with her mother and brothers over something.

Her mother, because Ginny was something a free spirit, it seemed. She wanted to do things her own way, and her mother was always trying to have her do things the way she thought was best for her only daughter.

And her brothers, because they still thought she was a 7-year-old little girl, instead of a nearly 15-year-old teen, who was rapidly becoming a young woman. What none of her family realized was that Ginny had been forced to grow up very fast, because of the horrors her past contained.

There was an underlying sadness in her letters that Harry had begun to see as they continued to write each other. It was there in the way she mentioned her school friend's carefree natures. It was there in the way she mentioned her brothers treating her like a little girl.

It was as though she wanted desperately to be a little girl once again, but knew it would never be. Reading between the lines, Harry could see that she was feeling as if she was all alone in the world, as if nobody understood her, as if nobody knew how hard it was to feel years older than your physical age, and nobody ever would. But Harry did know - all too well in fact.

He felt as if he'd found someone who could truly relate to him in Ginny, and he wanted desperately to be able to talk to her in person, to tell her everything. Sirius was a great mentor, but Harry just didn't feel comfortable with telling him all his fears and worries.

He knew that Ginny would understand, and he hoped that if he told her what was troubling him, she'd tell him what was troubling her. He wanted to make her feel better, and he knew that was the only way he could.

Making sure to shut out his connection to Sirius first, Harry unfolded the letter from Ginny and began to read it again.

Dear Harry,

I'm sure Hermione will be overjoyed to learn that you are doing your homework so early this year. She's already getting on my case about the O.W.L.s! Every letter from her is a three-page lecture on how Ron is a prat and I should study more.

Needless to say, I don't really read her letters any more. I've decided I'm not going to take from her what you guys did last year. She needs to learn that while school is important, it should not rule over every aspect of a person's existance. I've decided to completely ignore the fact that she is speaking if she says anything about it at all this year. You guys should've done that last year, but you're just too afraid of her. HA!

Harry groaned aloud. It was true. Hermione had been insufferable last year, but they'd been too scared of her amazing knowledge of hexes to stand up to her.

Ron's still being a prat because you're writing to me but not to him. He refuses to listen when I tell him that you don't want to talk. I think that he's just doing it because Hermione told him that you need to talk. She's obviously the brains behind this whole thing, because Ron's too thick to try and come up with something like this on his own.

Harry shook his head. It hurt, but he wasn't going to talk to the two of them until they figured out that making demands of him was not going to work. He would talk to the two of them when he was ready and not before.

Mum's trying to teach me cooking, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at it. Not that I care, of course. Knowing how to cook is not high on my list of priorities, however much my mother insists I have to be a good little housewife someday.

Harry snorted in amusement. The idea of Ginny being an obedient little housewife was absolutely absurd. He knew she really didn't have any specific ambitions as yet she had told him, but she certainly wasn't one to sit around at home and knit sweaters like her mother.

I really wish you were here, Harry. I miss you terribly, and I have no one to talk to here. I know things must be awful there with the muggles, but we're working on Dumbledore right now.

Ginny

Harry stared at the line for a moment. He certainly missed her too. He wanted very badly to talk to her in person. Sirius had been adamant that Harry show his powers to as few people as possible, but Harry decided right then and there that he was going to see Ginny right away.

Quickly opening his link to his godfather, Harry inwardly called out, -Sirius?-

Ah, done reading your little love note I see. What is it?

Harry decided to ignore the obvious attempt to get a rise out of him and get right to the point. -I'm going to see Ginny.-

WHAT! Sirius 'thought' as loud as he could.

Harry winced and rubbed his temples gingerly. -I said, I'm going to see Ginny. And don't think so loud by the way, you give me enough of a headache as it is.-

Harry was quite certain that his godfather would be giving him a dirty look right then, but fortunately, he couldn't see it.

You most certainly are not. We have to keep your power a secret remember?

-I don't care. No offense to you, but you're the only person I can talk to. I need someone else I trust that understands. Someone who's not basically my parental figure.-

Sirius gave a long-suffering sigh. Alright, go have your little romantic rendezvous with your girlfriend. Just don't get too 'distracted' to keep me out of your mind. I might see something you don't want me to see.

Harry had to try very hard not to blush. He could just hear the smirk in that statement, and he longed to punch his godfather's lights out.

-Shut up you dirty old man.-

Before Sirius could reply, Harry had shut him out of his mind.

Still muttering about annoying convicted criminals, Harry transformed into his Phoenix form and started to concentrate on where he was going. It was going to be a tricky bit of Travelling, as he'd only seen the inside of Ginny's room once, and then only a brief glimpse.

Just as he was going to give it a shot, Harry stopped himself. Here he was rushing off without even thinking again. He couldn't just appear in her room! It was late, what if she was changing or....

If Phoenixes could blush, that one would have. Harry immediately shook those thoughts out of his head and tried to think. There was nothing for it, he'd just have to appear outside her room and peek in the window - briefly of course - to make sure that he could go in.

With a burst of flames, Harry was outside Ginny's bedroom window at the Burrow, flapping his wings powerfully to stay in place. He took a quick glance inside and sighed in relief - Ginny was laying on her bed reading, and she appeared to still be wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from the day.

With another burst of flames, he was hovering right over her bed.

Ginny, for her part, only managed to keep from screaming in fright because she was too shocked to utter a single sound.

When Harry flew over to the bedpost near her feet, she finally seemed to gain enough motor control to cautiously approach him. Phoenixes were typically known as pure Light creatures, so she knew she wasn't in any danger. Still, having a solid gold phoenix suddenly appear in her bedroom wasn't exactly something that happened every day.

She slowly reached up her hand and stroked the feathers on his head.

Harry leaned into her hand and closed his eyes. It felt really good to have her touch him like that.

"You're beautiful," she whispered softly. Harry suddenly hopped down to the ground and transformed back to his natural form.

"Why thank you," he said mischievously.

This time, Ginny did shriek in fright.

Footsteps were heard pounding on the stairs, and a loud, frantic knock came at Ginny's door. "Ginny! Are you alright?" It was Mrs. Weasley.

Harry gave Ginny a pleading look. "No one's supposed to know about this, please don't."

Ginny's initial thought was that this could be some sort of Death Eater trick. Yet when she looked into Harry's bright emerald eyes, she couldn't help but feel that everything was alright; that she was safe.

"Yes, mum, I'm fine, just stubbed my toe is all."

"Alright dear," Mrs. Weasley called. "Do you need anything?"

"No thanks mum."

"Well," Mrs. Weasley didn't sound too sure. "Alright then. You'll call me if anything is wrong right?"

Ginny glanced at Harry and rolled her eyes. "Yes mum."

Footsteps were heard once again, this time receding down the stairs.

Without warning, Ginny flung herself into Harry's arms, seemingly trying to squeeze the life out of him. Harry stiffened at first, then slowly relaxed and hugged her back softly.

Ginny seemed to realize what she was doing, and jumped back, blushing profusely. Harry smirked inwardly. It seemed she still did that around him now and then.

He waited patiently for her inevitable thousand and one questions, and was not disappointed. After she managed to fight down her blush, she started firing them off one after another. "Harry! What are you doing here? How'd you get here? Did you turn into a Phoenix? Does that mean you're an animagus? How..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Harry cried. "Easy Ginny, one at a time. Yes, I'm an animagus, and I did turn into a Phoenix. I got here using what I call 'Flame Travel', which is something phoenixes do. Kind of like apparition, but a lot better. As for why I'm here, I wanted to see you."

Harry doubted that he could have said anything that would have made her blush more than that, and he was very probably right.

Ginny apparently was very good at fighting blushes though, because she recovered in only seconds and started trying to ask more questions. Harry held up his hands to stop her.

"I'll tell you everything in a minute, I promise, but first you have to make me a promise." She nodded, albeit a little impatiently, and he continued, "Nobody knows about any of this - not even the Order. You have to promise that what I tell you remains between us."

Ginny nodded again, apprehensively this time. She was pleased that he would entrust this sort of thing only to her, but she was also a bit scared that Harry felt he had to keep things from the Order.

So Harry told her everything, he told her about Sirius visiting in his dreams, and his trip to the vault. About finding out how much Dumbledore had kept from him, and the fact that he had a sister he hadn't even known about. He let her read the letter from his dad about Katherine, and she was crying silently by the end. He'd had to endure so much, why did these sort of things always seem to happen to him?

Then he told her about what else Dumbledore had kept from him last year, about the prophecy, and why he'd avoided him the whole year. When he related the full prophecy to her, she jumped from the bed and started doing a happy dance around the room.

Harry just stared at her in shock. "What are you doing?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm doing a victory dance," she cried happily. Seeing the look he was giving her, she said exasperatedly, "Harry, I've always known it would come down to the two of you, all this prophecy means is that you can beat him."

Harry's incredulous look turned to one of thoughtfulness. "You know, I never thought of it that way. I mean, it was only a matter of time until he killed me anyway wasn't it? This way, at least I have shot at actually beating him."

Ginny just nodded and started dancing around once again. Harry leaned back and watched her for a moment. He took the opportunity to really study her for the first time. She was a small girl, only maybe 5' 3" at most, yet not tiny either. Her hair was no longer the tomatoe red of her younger years, but had darkened instead into a beautiful, deep, dark red that seemed to be a blend of a myriad of different shades of red instead of one solid color.

Her chocolate brown eyes seemed to glow when she was happy, and her smile was the most beautiful he had ever seen. It seemed to light up her whole face, and indeed, the entire room as well.

Ginny finally slowed her joyous prancing and turned to find Harry staring at her intently. She quickly checked herself over. Finding nothing out of place, she asked nervously, "What? have I got some dirt on my nose or something?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Then why were you staring at me?"

Harry just gave her a mysterious smile. "No reason."

Ginny wasn't convinced, but decided to let it go. "So," she started. "Sirius is in your head huh?"

"Yep."

"So can he hear what we're saying right now?"

Harry shook his head. "No, thank Merlin, he can't. I can block him out. I always do when I read your letters and stuff because he's a nosy old fart."

Ginny giggled, then turned serious. "Are you sure it's really him and not some trick of.....V-Voldemort's?"

Harry raised his eyebrows at the use of the Dark Lord's name, but said nothing about it. "Yes, I'm sure."

Seeing her skeptical look, he held up his finger for silence and closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them and asked, "Do you remember when you and he had that long conversation before I came to Grimmauld Place last year?"

Ginny paled. "He didn't tell you about that did he?"

Harry just shook his head. "Nothing about it other than you two talked." She sighed inwardly in relief. They had talked about Harry that day.

Harry suddenly blushed and muttered, "Shut up you...." he then proceeded to utter a short string of expletives about Sirius that would make Ron proud and Hermione indignant.

Ginny looked at him in surprise. "Wow, I didn't know you had it in you, Harry."

Harry shrugged. "That tends to happen when you have a dirty, vulgar old man in your head all the time." He shut his eyes for a moment and then opened them in relief. "There, he's gone."

He looked around her room with interest. "You know," he said. "I've never been in here before."

Ginny looked glanced around and groaned inwardly. She wished she had cleaned up earlier that day, as it was a little messy. Not real bad, but still, when the man you love comes to visit, you'd rather like it to be tidy.

"Sorry about the mess," she said hastily.

"I like the mess," he said. "I like your room, it seems like...you." It was true. The room was painted a light blue color, and it had just a few pieces of simple furniture.

Her eyes flashed. "Are you saying I'm a messy person?"

Harry looked embarassed. "No, sorry, I didn't mean that. I mean it just doesn't look ultra-organized like Hermione's would, or full of pink and ruffles and magazines like Parvati or Lavender's. It just looks.....simple. Straightforward. And lived in, you know? It seems to fit you somehow. Does that make sense?"

She was slightly mollified, but still looked at him a bit suspiciously, as if she was trying to discern an insult somewhere in his description of the room. No one had ever complimented it before, only criticized it. Her mother thought it was too messy for a girl's room, and her brothers all thought there was some way it could be improved (Ron thought it should be orange and the twins thought it should be booby-trapped for intruders).

"So what's your room look like?" she asked.

Harry flushed. "Um, well..."

They talked well into the night, until Ginny started yawning more and more often, and Harry told her he had to go home and get some dinner, since the Dursleys would be asleep by that time. He then surprised her by pulling her into a tight hug, which she returned, flushing with pleasure. Harry pulled back and gave her a roguish wink, before disappearing in another burst of flames.

She collapsed backwards onto the bed and sighed happily. She loved the way it felt when Harry put his strong arms around her. He made her feel safe, warm, and happy when he did that, and she wished desperately that he could ever see her in that way. That he would hold her close and kiss her lips and whisper how much he loved her.

She shook herself angrily. 'Stop thinking about that! He won't think of you that way, and that's all there is to it. You've finally got him as a friend, and that'll just have to do.'

AN

If you're not in the following review responses, it's because I have nothing specific to address concerning your review. Instead I express only my deepest gratitude for your review and the interest you've shown in reading more of my story. If I didn't have to write more story, I'd thank you individually!

john: why do you feel I went too far? I only gave him the knowledge of a Hogwarts graduate (excepting the animagus transformation of course). And like I said, I thought of the sister thing a long time ago (it was the inspiration for this fic) and I refuse to change just because it's become silly in other fics. Thanks for your review, I appreciate your constructive criticism

athenakitty: Whoa! loads of questions! Just like Ginny in the chapter I'm posting right now. Since he has the official "ladies man" of the Marauders in his head, I think Harry will definitely be different. He'll be more bold and confident, but not overly so. He'll have more spells, but not too many, and not very many uncommon ones (he still has to study some obscure books to get that)

He is very mad at Dumbledore, and he will meet his sister. He will speak to Frank at least once in the story. I doubt he'll ever really like flooing, but he may come to appreciate apparating. Thanks for your review!

That's all for now, please review so I'm motivated to write faster!